Oil fields are regions with an abundance of oil wells extracting crude oil from below ground. Because the oil reservoirs typically extend over a large area, possibly several hundred miles across, full exploitation entails multiple wells scattered across the area. In addition, there may be exploratory wells probing the edges, pipelines to transport the oil elsewhere, pipelines transporting drilling mud, panic lines.
A typical oil field resembles a small self-contained city in the midst of a landscape dotted with drilling rigs, pumping jacks and complicated infrastructure to convey gases and fluids across the terrain into storage or transport. Heavy construction equipment, large trucks and tankers are constantly traversing the field as new wells are drilled and product from existing wells is moved out to refineries. New roads are built to service the new wells.
Just as vehicles crisscross the field, pipelines and cables likewise crisscross the field. In the oil field, pipelines not only transport petroleum and natural gas, but also drilling mud. There are flare lines and panic lines. To accommodate the vehicular traffic and the pipelines and cables, the pipelines are buried below ground where their path crosses the roads. Buried pipeline is not accessible for inspection for damage and leaks.
While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present disclosure as disclosed hereafter.
In the present disclosure, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge or otherwise constitutes prior art under the applicable statutory provisions; or is known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which the present disclosure is concerned.
While certain aspects of conventional technologies have been discussed to facilitate the present disclosure, no technical aspects are disclaimed and it is contemplated that the claims may encompass one or more of the conventional technical aspects discussed herein.